


anywhere else

by Infinitree



Category: Kung Fu Panda - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Light Angst, Oneshot, feat. implied kaiway, mentions a bunch of other characters, technically canon compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-24 03:33:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10733271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Infinitree/pseuds/Infinitree
Summary: Tigress runs with the occasional falter.





	anywhere else

By the time she reached the bamboo forest, all of Tigress’ body is screeching in a familiar sort of pain. While she was a warrior with self control tempered by ironwood and years of training, she wasn’t _infallible_. Once the coast is clear, she set to work.

The master kicked a stalk down with ease before dividing them in six. They are not even, let alone smooth cuts but they are serviceable, silently hoping they would forgive such shoddy work. She plants each of them down with a downward strike and begins to carve the names of her comrades and mentor in each one with her claws-- makeshift markers for the recently deceased. A reminder of their existence.

It was far from a standard funeral, but it was the least she could do.

Tigress’ knees buckle out of fatigue and grief, bringing herself to kneel over. Of course, she had come to accept that there was a chance they would die in a great battle, had tried to steel herself for that day, but she didn’t expect all of them to leave this earth in a short period of time-- leave _her_ , she allowed herself to think selfishly.

She sent up a prayer to the heavens, for strength, for solace, _anything_ that could ease her pain and the pain of the souls that used to be her friends and family, and every kung fu master that fell to Kai’s clutches.

Long after she departed towards the mountains, she contemplated whether getting collected would hurt.

* * *

Tigress jumped back from an airborne jab coming from Crane-- no, _just_ a jombie, _just_ a thing wearing the mask of a fallen friend tinted in green, _anything_ but Crane.

Kai stood above the spectacle, an impassive expression on his face as he swivelled one of his twin blades. One, two, _three_ more clangs ring in the air before the master is face to face with the rest of her fallen comrades, with dead, dead eyes.

She brought herself up, her stance defensive as they came forward. In the past, she always had her team to make up for her deficiencies. Crane would make up for the height none of them could ever reach, Monkey with his scrappy nature, and Viper and Mantis would deal with stealth and quick strikes.

All she had was herself, and a strength that couldn’t break through jade if she wanted to.

The jombies came closer, their moves erratic and stilted as they circled her. All took their respective stances before freezing in place.

Kai jumped from his perch, just short of the group of circling jombies. As he made his way over, Tigress brought herself to a defensive stance with teeth bared. Her grip tightened around the jade scroll.

The bull’s eyes flashed over the scroll case, brows furrowing at the sight of it before he focused in on the master. “Your loyalty is admirable,” he said casually as he scratched his chin with one of his blades.

It seemed as if he was getting ready to say something else, but Tigress snarled. “Which you have none.”

“But what are you planning to accomplish with this task? It took Oogway and I _years_ to master it _._ ” He snorted in derision at his next words, chains clinking at the sudden shift in posture. “And I made sure to take the _qi_ of all the pandas that knew about it back then. Dragon Warrior or not, he will befall the same fate.”

Kai stepped forward, prompting her to take a half-step back. She refused to give him the satisfaction of intimidating her.

“But sure, go ahead and let the faith of your friends guide you, or whatever meaningless trite Oogway said to you,” he muttered as he rolled his eyes.

“It is not meaningless!”

The bull scoffed, and for a brief moment, the jombies shuddered in response as if they, too exhaled. “You should have seen him in his heyday, little kitten,” he smirked. “His words actually _meant_ something back then-- could strike fear in the hearts of our enemies, inspiration to our troops, and…”

Jade heads creaked downward abruptly, glowing eyes now pointed to the ground.

“...You know what, never mind,” Kai muttered, a dark look passing over his face. A trio of jombies dissipated into a burst of _qi_ , retreating back into their amulet form and returning to his grasp. “Putting your faith in one person will only lead to disappointment.”

Without thinking, Tigress lunged forward to attack, but was quickly held back by jade talons and coils. She let out a choked roar, the feeling of it as bitter as bile.

As the bull stepped closer, her fear had come through her _traitorous_ wide eyes. The whole world stood still as he approached. Pulling at her bonds elicited no reactions, save for a wince from her at the sound of claws scraping uselessly on rock. Perhaps it was only because the jombie that was Viper was coiled around her, but Tigress couldn’t breathe.

And suddenly she _could_.

The jombies that held her dissipated into green qi, retreating into their amulet form before they returned to his hand. The master almost fell over due to the lack of support that came with being held up, but steadied herself nonetheless.

Kai’s gaze was on her, but it was different than the manic and indifference than before. Just like the moment in the statue garden, his eyes held regret. One that quickly turned to jealousy and spite. “Go on. _Prove me wrong_.”

 _I will_ , Tigress thought-- vindictiveness powering her arms and legs forward and away.

* * *

The master rested again, this time under the eaves of trees that dotted the meadow around her. Long ago, Tigress feared of failing Shifu. Now she fears that she failed all of China. _The Jade Palace. Kung fu._

She glanced over the jade scroll case beside her. _Oogway’s legacy_.

A beat. What did she really know about him outside of that? Tigress heard secondhand accounts of achievements from multiple masters, recalled old myths the sheep at Bao Gu told her and the children long ago, but in her decades of living in the Jade Palace she barely knew _anything_ about him.

Picking up the case, she took out the scroll gingerly before unfurling it in full.

The first few images-- of Oogway in general’s armor (a strange redundancy, considering his naturally built defenses) and a _qinglong ji_ glinting in the sun was such a far cry from his beatific demeanor in the few decades she knew him, it felt almost strange to see him like this. _Wrong_ , even.

For a brief moment, she wondered what the tortoise was like in those times if he and Kai could have considered each other as close as brothers-in-arms. Even briefer, she contemplated who the bull was before all this.

She passes that to reach the passage she was looking for-- the one with the pandas circling around the late grandmaster. She recognizes this form-- at least somewhat. The arm movements remind her of the smooth movements of _tai chi chuan,_ of Oogway’s final teaching. A part of her can’t help but wonder whether it was a precursor to it all.

In any case, it seemed doable.

As she dusted herself off, she took a steady stance as she eyed a budding flower. She had seen Shifu perform the flower blooming exercise a handful of times, had read up on what little scrolls there were on the practice-- even asked Oogway about it when he was alive, but she had never performed such a feat herself.

 _Straight posture, sunken elbows and shoulders,_ she could recall the doddering sage instruct on proper form. It was one of the few things that wasn’t taught by Shifu and his scrutinizing gaze, and at the time she considered it to be a strange outlier. Initially, she had thought that the reason was a lack of mastery on Shifu's part, but looking back perhaps the late grandmaster thought it would be better that he teach the first style that started everything.

Tigress took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to will her nerves away. Bringing her hands together, she let them brush against each other before bringing them to arch around her in a circle.

_Movement should be deliberate, but loose, there should be a clear yin and yang._

She brought a hand forward, tilted towards the direction of the bud and waited for… anything, really. Her clawtips felt like it was buzzing, but she wasn’t sure whether that was because of stress, running for so long, or actually channeling _qi_.

With an expectant note, she opened her eyes to see the sunset and gold light shimmer on the fields before dissipating. Tigress’ gaze moved downward, only to find that the flower bud refused to bloom. The master’s shoulders heaved as she let out a disappointed sigh. Of course she _didn't_ \-- especially not after a few days of just figuring out that _qi_ manipulation was a feasible thing. Those kinds of things were impossible-- well, near impossible.

Tigress looked back up to the horizon, towards a jagged, shimmery outline of a mountain range. She _really_ hoped that Po mastered _qi_ by now.

* * *

Tigress was long gone by the time Kai reached the meadows. With a quiet huff, he looked around. _Strange_ , he thought. He could sense her _qi_ everywhere up ahead, but the form he had associated with her was nowhere in sight.

Making his way to the top of the hill, his eyes widened and intensified in its glow.

While mortals wouldn’t notice the change, the immediate area’s plantlife had grown exponentially and was practically packed with taller grass and new saplings. All of which had the familiar shimmering golden traces of _qi_ that was far from natural.

At the epicenter was a flowerbed of budding flowers, barely opened. All stuck in an inbetween state of budding and being in full bloom, its pale pink petals still a tight cone-shaped spiral.

He let out a snort. _Finally, this was going to be_ interesting.

**Author's Note:**

> ~~alternate description: Kai may be motivated to take the qi of every master, but he's ultimately driven by spite and wants Tigress to feel worse despair than what he could ever do to her directly.~~
> 
> While this fic _was_ made as a self-indulgent Tigress fic, I can't help but sprinkle in my world building headcanons.
> 
> Basically, the qi manipulation techniques taught to Oogway was eventually repurposed (not sure if that's the right word) to be a part of tai chi chuan-- which is apparently one of his signature styles according to the Wiki, besides 'tortoise style'-- as well as inspired the inner peace technique featured in KFP2.
> 
> On a similar note, the characteristics of tai chi were pulled from from [this article](http://nextshark.com/bow-sim-mark-donnie-yen-mother/).


End file.
